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A sentence from Ben Franklin's 'The Way to Wealth'

Hello,

could you please see if my understanding of these sentences from Benjamin Franklin's "The Way to Wealth" is correct?

"I have heard that nothing gives an author so great pleasure,so as to find his works respectfully quoted by other learned authors. This pleasure I have seldom enjoyed; for though I have been, if I may say it without vanity, an eminent author of almanacs annually now for a full quarter of a century, my brother authors in the same way, for what reason I know not, have been very sparing in their applause, and no other author has taken the least notice of me, so that did not my writings produce me some solid pudding, the great deficiency of praise would have quite discouraged me."

1. (He has heard that) an author gets great pleasure when his works are respectfully quoted by other learned authors.

2. Although he has been an eminent author of almanacs for 25 yrs, he does not know why other authors have not praised (or praised very little?) and other authors have not taken notice of him. If his writings had not produced him some 'solid pudding' (cash), the lack of praise would have discouraged him very much.

If I have missed something or if there is a better way to explain sentence 2, please help me.